The start of August regarding rain. . .
I do not have a rain gauge here, but I will be getting one for next garden season. The news finally called it a drought, but said lots of rain was coming. We had a tornado warning, and a boat load of rain with it, but that has been all we've gotten this month (so far as of today August 14, 2024).
The squash bugs were infesting all of our squash. Do you have a sure fire solution to organic pest control for squash bugs? We have tried Captain Jack's organic garden dust, and we have tried organic neem oil spray.
We may not plant squash next year, in hopes to eradicate the nasty varmits (squash bugs). It will mean no squash at all.
I don't know what continued to eat the greens, but the neem spray did not keep it away. Just when it was looking great, it started looking like this. Frustrating for sure.
On a positive note, the hot banana peppers produced a nice harvest. However, I gave one to my husband to taste test (he loves hot peppers), and then I tasted it. It was not hot at all. It tasted like eating a green pepper. We had purchased the plants this year, and from a new produce stand. I am wondering if they labeled them wrong. Anyway....
I decided to not waste the days picking (good source of vitamins and fiber), and made easy pickled banana peppers. I did not use gloves, as they did not "taste" hot.
The next hour my hands were burning. Did you know you can submerge your hands in vinegar to remove that painful hot pepper burn in your hands? It works.
Somewhere in that mess of hot banana peppers, there was an actual hot one. I don't know what is going on with the hot peppers this year. Last year, they were too hot in taste. Crazy how one year can be so different.
The jalapeno peppers produced in mass amounts, I have yet to go pick them. They have somewhat gained some heat in their flavor. They are definitely not as hot as they were last year, but tasty.
The green beans started to roll in too. I picked enough for dinners, however not enough for freezing. Picked our first bell pepper August 12th. The cucumbers are starting to form strangely (not pollinated fully?) and the plants look terrible. I'll take what we get. By the way, the Fresh containers I bought last year work great to keep cucumbers fresh in the refrigerator. I'm so glad I bought some.
We are getting a few more zucchini and yellow squash, but not enough to freeze any of it. Last year we go so much, we could have had a road side produce stand.
New to the garden!
Mashed Potato Squash
I planted something new in the garden - mashed potato squash. Have you heard of it? I never heard of it until last winter, and bought the seeds. I have not found one person who has grown this squash nor eaten it.
The winter squash plants are trying their best to hang on, but for some reason, the acorn plants only produced one acron squash (last year we got 3). I will buy seeds from another source, or just buy them next year.
If you are still with me, ha ha! I apologize for the long blog post today. I guess I'm feeling chatty, as I am enjoying this absolutely beautiful 58° weather this morning (first thing out of my mouth "it feels like camping weather").
The bathroom shower tile floor is done! It did not get completed without headache with this guy. He did do a nice job, and for the first time in 16 years, the shower has a finished tile floor.
Why it took so long? Raising a lot of kids can put jobs way down on the priority list (or even off the list). It's the only room with tile too.
Anyway, he left messes that I didn't see prior to inspecting his work. We however, are glad for the shower to be done, and that room is soon to be checked off the project list. I just need to do a full floor tile/grout cleaning, and touch up paint that this guy chipped of the wall trim (yes, an eye roller).
We have sort of started the garage clean out too. On days we have time, we are focusing on removing what we don't need/use or haven't used for years. Progress is better than no progress.
Until next time . . .
Garden and Tidbits Mid-August © August 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
4 comments:
Projects always seem to take longer than the time I have budgeted for them. We finally got the family room repainted after replacing a sliding door with a half wall and windows. Now I’m half way through the process of removing books, dusting and oiling (orange glo) the built in shelving the runs the length of one wall. I have a few, insert huge eye roll, books.
All of our squash plants bit the dust this year. Tomatoes are starting to red up but the cherry tomatoes are “exploding.” I’m not sure if it’s the heat or the little rain we finally got that’s causing this. The tomatillos are filling in which is good because I need to can more salsa verde. I am out of it. Jalapeños are running late too. I need them for the Ball’s Zesty Salsa.
I made chicken stock from a rotisserie chicken carcass in the slow cooker. I combined that with some I had previously frozen so I got 5 quarts and one pint pressure canned. I like seeing my jars getting restocked. I still have a ton to do. Things are just running late this year.
Take care, Katie C.
Progress not perfection!
Always enjoy your gardening - wishing I could be more like you. I admire your skills and using the vinegar as a way to unleash the heat from the peppers on your hands is a good tip I hope I won’t forget.
Katie C, you sound like you are getting a lot done depsite some late garden harvests. We did not get any cherry tomatoes planted this year, and well, the tomatoes we have are very late and few. I too, have too many books. I'm going to purge more soon.
Thanks Debby, I do love to prepare a meal with what we grow, but this year has been a bit frustrating. We do get years like that, so I just have to remember that.
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